Naruto: The Forbidden Masters
by Ronnin-themanwithnoprinciples
Summary: So what happens when five of the ninja world's most powerful ninja go rouge then ban together to achieve their goals? Will our favorite hero's find some trouble later on? Will our most hated enemies? This and even more revealed in this FanFiction. Review!
1. DISCLAIMER

DISCLAIMER

I do not own any content from Naruto or Naruto Shippuden, I only claim my OC's introduced in this story.


	2. Where He Left

Naruto: The Forbidden Masters

_Chapter 1: Where He Left_

**Time Frame: 1 month after Naruto left to search for Sasuke with Jiraiya.**

**Location: Orochimaru's North headquarters.**

"So Orochimaru, where's the kid you want me to test out for you?" A man asked, walking up in an arena, ready for combat. The man was wearing the typical outfit for an Orochimaru subordinate, had black hair and blood red eyes. He wore a

"Here he comes now Takahiro," Orochimaru replied as a gate opposite of Takahiro, and Sasuke Uchiha walked up. "Now then, try not to kill this one OK?" Orochimaru asked.

"Don't worry, I know how special he is to you." Takahiro replied, and Orochimaru smirked at his reply.

"To make sure this doesn't get out of hand," Orochimaru said. "I will limit this battle to the first person who sheds blood being the winner, also, I don't want either of you using your curse marks."

"Got it," Both combatants replied, and got ready.

_Hm, so this is the Uchiha kid Orochimaru is going to make his next vessel, huh? _Takahiro thought. _Well, I guess that makes it my job to make sure he is actually worthy enough to become his vessel. Alright Uchiha, let's see what you've got._

Sasuke ran forward at Takahiro, and as he was he threw three shuriken at his opponent. "Shadow Shuriken Jutsu," Sasuke said as he made a hand sign and his shuriken multiplied so that tons of shuriken were now flying at Takahiro. "This ought to shed your blood."

"What?" Takahiro said surprised as the shuriken hit him. "Hee, just kidding." Takahiro said as the shuriken bounced off his skin like they were made of rubber. "Shuriken are no use against me with my Earth Style: Rock Skin Jutsu. My move now Uchiha." Takahiro stated and charged at Sasuke, and threw a punch at him, hitting him in the face with enough force to throw him back a few yards, but it didn't shed blood.

"Sorry, something like that won't be enough to beat me. Not to mention, I've already found your Jutsu's weak point." Sasuke said, making a few hand signs.

"What's that?" Takahiro wondered, but his answer was Sasuke's Jutsu.

A ball of lightning chakra laid in Sasuke's hand. "Chidori." Sasuke said, and ran at Takahiro again, ready to thrust Chidori through him.

When Sasuke started Chidori, Takahiro began forming his own hand signs, then just as Sasuke was ready to attack, he executed the Jutsu. "Wind Style: Arial Barrier Jutsu." He called as wind picked up and swirled around his body, and Sasuke stopped his Chidori just short of hitting it, and Chidori ended. "Hee, can't beat wind style with lightning style now can you?" Takahiro mocked Sasuke.

Sasuke jumped back and made more hand signs. "Maybe not, but this can. Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu." Sasuke roared, and unleashed a huge ball of fire at Takahiro, which would do extra damage after colliding with his wind style jutsu.

In response, Takahiro took out a small vial and drank what was in it, then threw the vial to the side and made more hand signs just as Sasuke's fire style engulfed him. However, just when Sasuke thought he had won, out of his flames a rush of water soared through it strait at him, and he saw it was another one of Takahiro's jutsu.

"Impossible," Sasuke thought as he just barely dodged the water shot.

"Water Style: Geyser shot Jutsu." Takahiro said and ended the jutsu.

"You have to be kidding, earth style, wind style, and water style jutsu?" Sasuke inquired.

"That's right Uchiha, That's why I'm Orochimaru's top fighter. With my earth style, Taijutsu and most ninja tools don't work against me, and neither does water style jutsu, then with my wind style, I can keep you from using lightning style to pierce my earth style, and then with water style I can keep you from using fire style to blow through my wind style, and no one has ever matched me in earth style, wind style, or water style jutsu, so they can't even fight me with them, making me virtually unbeatable." Takahiro boast.

"Really, virtually indestructible huh? Let's test that theory." Sasuke said and ran at Takahiro, and kicked him.

Takahiro caught Sasuke's kick with his hand. "Weren't you listening? Taijutsu doesn't work on me."

"I know, But that wasn't supposed to beat you." Sasuke said, then started a second Chidori in his hand then threw it at Takahiro. "This is!" The idea was to make one of Takahiro's arms pre-occupied so he couldn't make hand signs or use his wind style jutsu in time to defend himself.

"Why you!" Takahiro shouted in anger and threw a punch at Sasuke, trying to avoid the Chidori.

Blood shed.

Chidori ended, and the blood that was shed was indeed Takahiro's and Sasuke began to walk away. Then, still angry, Takahiro charged at Sasuke, with every intention of pounding him into submission, Sasuke turned around with every intention of returning the challenge.

"Takahiro, stand down!" Orochimaru shouted and went down to meet them. "The match is over, you lost Takahiro."

"Whatever," Takahiro said. "The kid just got a lucky shot, we all know if it were a real battle I would have won. After all, that's why you told me to try not to kill him right?" Takahiro said, partly to try and frustrate Sasuke by pointing out he was definitely the stronger one.

Orochimaru frowned at Takahiro's remark. "I'm afraid there's been a misunderstanding." He said. "When I said 'try not to kill this one'... I was talking to Sasuke." Orochimaru pointed out, and Takahiro was shocked with anger.

"_So you mean..." _Takahiro thought as Sasuke and Orochimaru walked away. _"Orochimaru actually thought that that Uchiha brat... could kill me?" _He scowled at the thought.

Later that day, Takahiro went to Orochimaru's room in order to confirm that what he said was true. "Orochimaru," Takahiro said. "There's no way you really think that Uchiha kid could beat me, is there?"

"Actually Takahiro it is quite the opposite." Orochimaru replied, and Takahiro liked the sound of that at first. "It's not that there isn't a chance that Sasuke could beat you, but that there isn't a chance that you could beat him." Orochimaru finished, contradicting what Takahiro thought he was about to say.

"What are you talking about?" Takahiro was growing extremely angry with Orochimaru. "I have been the best fighter you've had for years, there's no way some punk with a Sharingan and a fairly new curse mark could beat me."

"Then explain why you were the one who got wounded, not Sasuke." Orochimaru almost seemed to be testing Takahiro's patience and loyalty with this.

"Like I said back there, he just got a lucky shot when I let my guard down. I could have seen that Chidori coming a mile away."

"But you didn't." Sasuke said, now in the doorway. "And in a real battle, your opponent isn't going to stop at wounding your arm, he'll go for your heart just like I could have if I wanted to."

"Yeah right," Takahiro retorted. "I've seen the look you have in your eyes before. If you could have hit my heart you would have no questions asked. Or did you forget that I was the one holding back in that fight?"

"Maybe you forgot, but unlike you, I could tell Orochimaru was talking to me when he said not to kill you, so I was holding back too." Sasuke retorted, and Takahiro was unable to argue back this time. "That's what I thought."

"Now leave Takahiro, I have important business to attend to with Sasuke." Orochimaru ordered.

"Oh I'll leave alright, I'll leave this hideout, I'll leave you, see how much you can get done without your top fighter around!" Takahiro shouted, and ran out of the hideout, not stopped by Orochimaru or Sasuke.

"Should I go after him, Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked.

"No, that's fine Sasuke." Orochimaru replied. "No matter how far he goes, no matter how far away he gets, his road will always lead back to me."

"I'll show you Orochimaru." Takahiro said to himself as he ran through the forest. "I'll show you, Sasuke Uchiha." He continued. "And I will... Kill you!" He shouted, not specifying which one he was talking about.


	3. Why She Left

_Chapter 2: Why She Left_

**Time Frame: 4 months after Naruto left to search for Sasuke with Jiraiya.**

**Location: Hidden Sand Village**

A young women walked through the streets of the Village Hidden in the Sand. She looked like an average person on a stroll, she had long blonde hair she had in a pony tail, she wore a blue-purple dress and had a white scarf around her neck. She had blue eyes and also wore a headband that indentified her as a ninja of the sand village.

Although her appearance was normal enough, everyone else on the street shook in fear, backing as far away from her as they could. As the women approached a shop, the store owners were terrified of her, their backs up against the wall, and they looked like they thought she came here specifically to kill the two of them. But rather then even look like she was going to attack them, she put a small pouch of money on the counter.

"May I have some bread please?" She asked the store owner kindly, not even a tone of aggression was noticeable.

The store owner slowly took out a few loaves of bread and set them gently on the counter, then backed away again. "You listen Kimiko." The man said to the women. "Take the bread _and_ your money and get out of my shop, I don't want to see your face in here again." He said, although he was sweating and shaking so much it wasn't a very effective threat.

"Oh, please don't make her angry, just let her take the bread and leave. You know what could happen if you get her upset." The store owners wife pleaded with her husband to just be quiet.

Kimiko picked up the bread, but didn't touch her money. "Thank you sir." She said, all but ignoring both their statements about her and leaving the store, walking through the streets full of people cowering in corners as she walked away, and continued walking even after she went past all the houses. She walked far out into the desert until she came upon one small hut of sand, like any of the buildings in the Hidden Sand, and entered it.

Inside the hut, there was almost nothing except a table and a bed. This hut was Kimiko's house, she lived her all on her own, as she was practically forced out of the village years ago by the terror people had for her. Despite the kind and gentle face she had put on while in the village, when she sat down at her table, she put her head down and began crying.

Whenever Kimiko went into the village, she put on a joyful face, partly to conceal her hurt feelings from the villagers. But more so, it was to try and give them some sort of comfort around her, help them feel as if they didn't need to be afraid of her. But she knew that would never happen, even she was afraid of herself.

Outside Kimiko's house, two Anbu men approached from the sides, as not to be seen. They could hear Kimiko crying inside, and one of them hesitated for a moment. _Is this really the deadly women we've heard so much about? _He asked himself. _She sounds so lonely and frightened. Are we really suppose to kill her?_

"Hey, don't be having second thoughts now." The other Anbu whispered over to the first. "This is an order from the higher ups, you can't back down now." She reminded him.

The first Anbu sighed. "You're right, let's just get it over with then." He whispered back.

The two Anbu members drew their blades and prepared to kill Kimiko. At the same time, they swung around into the house and attacked Kimiko just as she looked up to see them stab forward with their swords. And by the time she looked up it was too late, the two Anbu members were already defeated.

When Kimiko looked up at the two of them and saw their swords about to stab her, her eyes changed from her regular blue to a cloudy white color, and she had activated her Genjutsu. But this wasn't any normal Genjutsu, normal Genjutsu puts the target into an illusion where they take incredible mental damage that ends up affecting them physically. But when Kimiko used Genjutsu, it was real, the damage they sustained would be completely real, anyone around them would see the wounds, and Kimiko could literally tear their bodies apart just by thinking about it.

In this case, Kimiko had ripped the Anbu's hands off their arms, so the hands and swords fell to the ground with a bloody spray flowing over them from the Anbu's severed wrists, and with this realization, the two Anbu members backed away in horror, and looked at Kimiko who's look had shifted. It wasn't one of kindness or sorrow, but rather one of utter hatred. The Anbu tried to run away, but before they could even turn around Kimiko's Genjutsu ripped apart their chest and killed them.

"Members of Anbu, here to kill me? Why?" Kimiko wondered why, and began to walk toward the village again.

As Kimiko waked through the village with anger filled white eyes, the villagers were even more frightened of her than they were before, the fact her eyes were white meant she could kill any of them if she looked over to them, and they weren't planning on giving her even the slightest reason to do so. Kimiko kept walking through the village until she arrived at the Kazekage's office building, and entered.

When Kimiko got to the Kazekage's office's doors, two Jonnins stopped her from entering. "State your business here." One of the Jonnins demanded, and in response, Kimiko just looked up at him with her malice filled white eyes, which struck fear into the Jonnin.

"Get out of my way." Kimiko ordered.

"What, you can't just/" The Jonnin started, but was cut off by his shoulder suddenly getting a huge gash on it, and he feel to the floor in pain.

Kimiko looked over to the other Jonnin, who backed up in fear that the same or worse would be done to him, and Kimiko entered the Kazekage's office. Inside she found a young boy at a desk, he had red hair and the character for love on his forehead.

"Who are you?" The boy asked.

"Where's the Kazekage?" Kimiko asked.

"You are speaking to him, I am the fifth Kazekage, Gaara." Gaara replied.

"What? What happened to the fourth Kazekage?" Kimiko inquired. Since she lived outside the village and no one ever spoke with her, she had heard nothing of the dealings with Orochimaru and Hidden Leaf village.

"Didn't you hear? He's been dead for months now." Gaara explained.

"Well whatever, I came here to ask why an attempt was made on my life by two Anbu members." Kimiko stated.

"What's that?" Gaara asked.

"You heard me, now answer me, why were they sent." Kimiko was getting angry.

"I don't know, I haven't given anyone orders to kill anyone." Gaara told Kimiko.

"So what, you're saying they decided to kill me on their own? That's not the way of an Anbu."

"If you were attacked by Anbu members, where are they?"

"Dead, I killed them."

"I gave the order, Kazekage." A council member of the Hidden Sand entered the room, confessing. "This women is a menace to our village, her Genjutsu is a crazy killing technique and she should not be allowed to live. I insist you give the order for her death."

"I see," Gaara said. "So you are calling this girl a dangerous weapon. Let me ask you first, what was her crime?"

The council member was confused. "Crime? She hasn't committed anything, but/"

"Then you had no right to send assassins after her." Gaara said, surprising both the council member and Kimiko.

"Kazekage, be reasonable, this women is a monster." The council member pleaded, but just as he finished his sentence, Kimiko turned to him and used her Genjutsu to completely severe his right arm from his body.

Kimiko took a step toward the council member, with the intention of killing him, but as she did, a wall of sand came between them. She looked back to see Gaara had done it.

"Stop this, I will see to it that no more attempts are made on your life." Gaara said.

"Is that supposed to be a joke? I don't need your pity Kazekage Gaara! And I'm not going to put up with this village anymore!" Kimiko shouted and stormed out of the building.

The wounded Council member stood up, gripping his shoulder where his arm was severed. "Kazekage, why did you take such pity on her?" He asked.

"It wasn't pity." Gaara corrected him. "It's that, she is the exact same as I was." Gaara said, and the council member was shocked by his saying so.

Kimiko left the Sand village, but she wasn't going to her house this time, she was leaving everything behind, she had enough with the village now. If she couldn't get respect in her own village, then she would get it somewhere else.

"That Kazekage Gaara..." She said to herself as she was now officially a Rouge Ninja.


	4. What He Left

_Chapter 3: What He Left_

**Time Frame: 7 months after Naruto left to search for Sasuke with Jiraiya.**

**Location: Just outside the Hidden Rock Village.**

In the mountains behind the Hidden Rock Village, a mountain suddenly broke off and crashed down. In front of the collapsed mountain was a man with brown eyes and brown hair. He wore the outfit of a Hidden Rock Jonnin, only instead of a single sleeve missing, both sleeves were torn off. And of course he wore a headband that signified him as a ninja of the Hidden Rock Village.

The man was breathing heavily, having been training for hours. In his weakened state, he thought of the Tsuchikage. _"You may be Mu's son, but that does not mean you are fit to be the Tsuchikage." _These were the words of the third Tsuchikage, who took over after Mu's death. _"You, who is incapable of using Jutsu, cannot be entrusted with the safety of the village, Daiki." _It was true, Daiki was one of the few people in the ninja world who was born with the inability of using Ninjutsu or Genjutsu.

_"But my father himself wanted me to become the Tsuchikage after his death, you can't just disregard his will like that!" _Was how Daiki argued.

_"That may be so, and I have no problem admitting that you are indeed one of the strongest Jonnin in our village, but/" _The Tsuchikage said.

_ "But what?" _Daiki asked.

_"But you were never a match for Mu, even now your power is minimal compared to his. If you and I were to face off in battle, the outcome at this point is obvious. So I will make this deal with you Daiki; become strong enough to defeat me in battle while you are holding back and I am not, and I will accept you as reaching your father's level, and you will be name Tsuchikage."_

Ever since this deal was made, Daiki has trained endlessly to try and achieve the level of his father. But the many times he has faced the Tsuchikage in battle, he could not even come close to victory. And Daiki knew that the Tsuchikage was holding back every time.

"Daiki, you need to get over this Tsuchikage thing." A women with long dark purple hair and black eyes in a Jonnin outfit said as she walked up behind Daiki.

"I know your father wanted you to and all, but let's face it, your not going to beat Onoki before he kicks the bucket himself." A man with brown hair and blue eyes who was also in a Jonnin outfit said as he sat down.

"Akira, Katsu, I can't do that." Daiki told his two teammates.

"Can't? Or won't?" The man Daiki called Katsu asked.

"Come on Daiki, your pushing yourself too far with this training." The women Daiki called Akira said. "You aren't going to beat Tsuchikage any time soon, if ever. Kicking down mountains with your bare feet and shattering boulders with nothing but your fists isn't making you any stronger. You need to stop." She insisted.

"NO!" Daiki shouted. "I promised my father I would become the Tsuchikage and follow his footsteps. If I give up I'm putting a disgrace not only to myself, but to his name as well." He told his teammates.

Akira was very sad for Daiki, she understood why he was putting himself through this, she just didn't want to see him get hurt in the process. Katsu on the other hand had a look that made it seem like he was about ready to give up on Daiki completely.

Daiki looked at Akira's face and calmed down. "I'm sorry I got so angry Akira. Please, just leave me alone for awhile." He said, and left for the village.

Inside his house, Daiki looked at a picture of his father, the second Tsuchikage. Daiki lived alone, his mother had died shortly after his birth. After eating lunch Daiki prayed in front of his father's picture. He was praying for what he was about to do.

Daiki spoke to himself. "I made a promise, father, that I would become the Tsuchikage and follow your footsteps. But as I am now, that is impossible. although I don't like to admit it, Akira was right when she said that my training was not making me stronger. So I will make a new promise here to you..." Daiki began. "Outside this village, I will find someone who will help me get stronger, this person will someone with true strength. Not someone with incredible power or jutsu, but one with a strong state of mind, just as you were. This person will help me become as strong as you, and on the day I return to the Village Hidden in the Rocks, on the day I face the Tsuchikage one more time, it will be the day I fulfill my original promise and become the Tsuchikage." Daiki promised to his father and to himself, then left his house, prepare to be away from the village and his teammates for a very long time.

As Daiki reached the border of the village, he found himself in front of Akira and Katsu, but it didn't look like they were here for a friendly greeting.

"Where do you think your going Daiki?" Katsu asked.

"So what, you've decided you can't become Tsuchikage and now your going to leave the village in disgrace?" Akira asked. "That's not like you Daiki, you wouldn't give up so easily." She said, almost contradicting herself from what she said before in the mountains, wanting Daiki to stop.

"You've got it wrong." Daiki told them.

"I wish we did." Akira said. "You're not leaving the village Daiki." She said, and she and Katsu took fighting stance.

"If you are going to stand in my way, I will beat you both." Daiki said, then ran toward them, and threw a punch at Akira, but when he did his punch went strait through her and she and Katsu faded away. "Crap!" Daiki said to himself, realizing he was now in Akira's Genjutsu.

Just then a kunai appeared at Daiki's neck. "Don't move." Akira warned him.

Daiki bit his lip and the Genjutsu was broken, and Daiki jumped away before Akira could react. "A low level skill like that won't work on me." Daiki told Akira, but just then he felt something grab his lag, and looked down to see Katsu's hand.

"Then try this. earth Style: Head Hunter Jutsu!" Katsu said, and pulled Daiki down into the ground and hopped out to be above Daiki. "Sorry Daiki, it's for the best."

"If it was for the best..." Daiki said, then suddenly broke free of the ground surrounding him to punch Katsu in the chin and knock him back.

"Dang you," Katsu said as he got to his feet. "I'll get you for that one. Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Katsu called, and launched a large ball of fire at Daiki.

Daiki jumped up to a tree in order to dodge, then jumped at Katsu and punched him in his face to knock him down again, but this time he didn't get up. "Your skill in Ninjutsu is very impressive Katsu, unfortunately you have almost nothing in the way of physical stamina, a few hits and your out like a light." Daiki said, then looked at Akira. "Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu; the three parts of ninja combat, and each of us specialize in one of those three areas." Daiki said.

"That's right," Akira replied. "That's why we were always seen as the strongest three-man team in the Rock Village, whatever one of us lacked, the other two made up in full if not more. Who would have thought it would end like this?" Akira posed the question and made a few hand signs, launching Daiki into another Genjutsu.

Daiki was suddenly wrapped in roots with his back against a tree, and out of the tree came Akira with a kunai in hand. "I thought I already told you..." Daiki said biting his lip again and releasing the Genjutsu in order to stop Akira's real attack by grabbing her arm and twisting it behind her back, restricting her. "That level of technique won't work against me." He said, and proceeded to knocking Akira out by chopping her in the back of her neck. with his hand.

Very gently, Daiki layed Akira down on the ground. "I'm sorry Akira." He whispered, then began to walk away from them and leave the village.

But then, Katsu grabbed Daiki's shoulder to prevent him from leaving. "I can't let you leave Daiki." Katsu said.

Daiki looked back at Katsu in silence for a moment. "Can't? Or won't?" Daiki asked the question Katsu had asked him in the mountains to add irony. In surprise, Katsu let go of Daiki, and let him walk away from the village without any more of a fight.

Once he gathered himself together again, Katsu spoke to himself. "I suppose you're right Daiki, I guess we can only wait to see how this turns out." Then he turned to get Akira to a hospital.

"This is a promise I must keep at all costs. For my father, not for me..." Daiki said to himself as he left the village, not knowing when he would return.


	5. When He Left

_Chapter 4: When He Left_

**Time Frame: 4 weeks after Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi defeated Zabuza and Haku.**

**Location: Hidden Mist Village**

"Hey did you hear the news?" One man asked another at a pub.

"You mean about Zabuza, one of the seven Ninja Swordsmen. Yeah I heard it." At the note of Zabuza's name, another man in the pub began to intently listen to their conversation.

This man had short and spiky light blue hair and light blue eyes to match. He wore a sleeveless white shirt and light purple pants, and he was obviously very physically strong. He also had a sword strapped to his back; it was a large and long double-edged broadsword. It was almost as tall as the man himself, and its length from edge-to-edge it was nearly 3 times that of a regular sword. The strangest thing about the blade was that its hilt was both too large and too short to hold regularly, and it was also hollow, with enough room to fit someone's fist into it.

"They say a group a three Gennin and a Jonnin took him out." The first man said, which intrigued the man with the sword even more.

"I heard that the Jonnin that was there was really the Copy Ninja Kakashi." The second man remarked.

"Really, I didn't hear that yet. But you know what this means right?" The first man inquired.

"Huh, what does it mean?" The second man was clueless.

"Come on man, it should be obvious."

"It means there are only 6 Ninja Swordsmen left." The man with the sword on his back said, entering the conversation while smiling at the fact he presented. "It means that seventh slot it open for the taking."

"What, and I suppose you're going to claim it Takashi." The first man asked, knowing who the man with the sword was.

"You think I can't?" Takashi asked.

"That's not it; I'm saying you can't just pronounce yourself a new one of the seven Ninja Swordsmen. When they first got together, it was strictly going to just be those seven. I know your strong Takashi, but you would have to go find the Ninja Swordsmen themselves and beat them before you can claim Zabuza's empty seat." The man explained, and Takashi grinned at his explanation, also surprising the man. "Dude, you can't be serious!" The man said, suddenly getting frightened and upset. "The Ninja Swordsmen are missing-nin who are considered traitors of the Hidden Mist! Going out to find them so you can become a Seven Ninja Swordsmen will only succeed in making the village your enemy.

"Even if you do become a Seven Ninja Swordsmen, what then? It's not like the village would really just welcome you back no problem, you'd be considered a traitor and arrested."

"Who says I'm going to be coming back after becoming a Seven Ninja Swordsmen?" Takashi asked rhetorically. "I could make it as a missing-nin, It's not like I have any real attachment to this village."

"You're crazy, I'll report you to the Anbu Black Ops; you won't make it out the front gate of the village!" The man threatened, scared out of his wits by Takashi's claim to leave the village.

"Go ahead, a few Anbu members would make for a good test of my strength before I challenge a Seven Ninja Swordsmen!" Takashi retorted, appearing to lose all his sanity as he said it. With that said, Takashi walked out of the pub with an great grin on his face as he prepared to leave the village for good. However it wasn't long after leaving the Hidden Mist village that he was encountered by the Anbu the man from the pub threatened to send after him, which only widened his grin. "So he actually went and reported me huh? I knew he had the guts, but I was wondering if he thought a few Anbu members would be enough to stop me." Takashi said to himself as he examined the three Anbu members.

"Let's see you talk that cocky after the fight." One of the Anbu members said and pulled out some kunai, throwing them at Takashi.

Takashi jumped back in order to avoid the kunai. "Oh come now, you should at least allow me to draw my weapon before we start." Takashi said, and the three Anbu members actually backed away a bit as he reached for his sword. As Takashi got his hand to the hollow hilt of his sword, he reached in the hole to grab a bar inside it that was what allowed him to wield the sword at all, and pulled the blade off his back, and also began pouring out his chakra, which the sword then absorbed. "Oh hey come to think of it, My sword will need a name from now on won't it?" Takashi realized. "Tell me your opinions, what do you think of Sutoroborippa?" **(Literally: Flash Ripper) **

After posing the question to the Anbu members, Takashi suddenly vanished into the mist, and before any of them knew it, one of the Anbu members was cut down and Takashi was standing above his now dead body. Another anbu started to run toward him, but in an instant, Takashi was gone once again, only to reappear once again, cutting the Anbu that didn't move down and killing him.

Takashi looked back at the last Anbu member, who was now backing away slowly in fear. But before he even had a chance to run away, Takashi vanished and reappeared, killing him as well.

Looking around at the three dead Anbu members, Takashi corrected himself. "I guess I was wrong, a few Anbu members weren't a very good test of my strength." He said and put his sword, now named Sutoroborippa, on his back again, and proceeded to leave the village.

**Time Frame: 1 year after Naruto left to search for Sasuke with Jiraiya.**

**Location: In front of Zabuza Momochi's grave.**

In front of the grave made for Zabuza Momochi stood Takashi, more than a year had past since he became a missing-nin in hopes of becoming the Ninja Swordsmen that would replace Zabuza. But he had yet to even hear of one of the Ninja Swordsmen's whereabouts, let alone find, fight, and defeat even one of them.

"How am I suppose to replace you if I can't find any of the Swordsmen?" Takashi asked himself angrily, directing the question at Zabuza's grave as if he could get an answer from it.

After standing in front of the grave for a while longer, Takashi walked away and toward a bridge that connected the Land of Water to the Land of Fire. He looked up at the sign above the bridge before he began crossing it, and saw that it was named the 'Naruto Bridge', and he scoffed at it.

"'Naruto'? What a ridiculous name for a bridge." He said and began to cross over to the Land of Fire. "I hope I can have better luck outside the Land of Water." He said to himself as he set off.


	6. Who He Left

_Chapter 5: Who He Left_

**Time Frame: Around the same time Naruto left to search for Sasuke with Jiraiya.**

**Location: A small village in the Land of Fire.**

"Ryuunosuke, come down for dinner." A women called as she prepared a table.

"I'll be right there Mom." A boy's voice called down to his mother.

"Hey now, don't forget me." A man said as he entered the room and sat down at the table.

"Of course not Kenta, dear." The women replied, laughing.

"Yes, yes, Rei, just get me some of that cooking I love so much." The man said, laughing as well.

The women had long black hair that she had pulled back in a ponytail and she was wearing a slim-fitting purple shirt and tight beige pants. The man had rough-cut black hair that looked quite sloppy, and he wore a white shirt, along with navy blue pants. However, these two people were not ordinary people, there was a very special trait each one had, and the symbols each bore on the back of their shirts spoke the whole story.

On Kenta's back was a symbol you wouldn't have normally seen unless you were in Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and the reason for that was because it was the Hyuuga family symbol. Kenta was indeed a member of the Hyuuga clan, why he left Konoha was apparent once you saw the symbol on his wives' back.

The Symbol on Rei's back was a symbol you wouldn't expect to see at all, at least not anymore, since the symbol was none other than the Uchiha clan family symbol. Surprising as it may be at first, it was true that Rei was a member of the Uchiha clan, and there was only one reason she was alive today; she wasn't anywhere near the Uchiha clan at the time Itachi Uchiha massacred the rest of the clan. She hadn't been there for years before-hand even.

The reason a member of the Uchiha clan and a member of the Hyuuga clan were living married so out of sight from the Hidden Leaf village was because neither the Hyuuga or the Uchiha would hear to a cross-clan marriage, but Rei and Kenta were deeply in love, and after the rejection, they ran away so they could be together. Even so, they both wore their family symbols to show that despite running away, they had not lost their pride as a member of the clan.

"Hey, Mom, hey Dad." The boy called Ryuunosuke, who was also Rei and Kenta's son. Ryuunosuke was 17 years old and had short black hair and the black eyes of his mother, and he wore a v-neck, jet black shirt with sleeves a bit longer than his arms along with pure white pants that stopped half way between his knees and his feet.

"So how does training sound after dinner Ryuunosuke?" Kenta asked his son.

"Sounds good Dad." Ryuunosuke answered.

The three of them ate dinner, talking, laughing, and enjoying each others company just like a normal family would. There was nothing out of the ordinary about any of them; and yet, there was also nothing ordinary about them. The village they lived in was very small, no one needed a lot of money to get by, so no one was really rich and no one was really poor. Ryuunosuke and his parents were the only ninja in the village, so it put them in high regard among the other villagers, but it wasn't like they treated them in any special way, they were all just friendly to them.

After dinner, Ryuunosuke and his dad went out back to do their training. "Remember now, no holding back." Kenta told his son.

"Don't need to tell me twice, you wouldn't give me a chance to go easy anyways." Ryuunosuke replied, then ran toward his father.

Ryuunosuke threw a punch at his dad, who blocked his punch with his hand then thrust his palm at Ryuunosuke. Ryuunosuke jumped back to avoid his fathers attack, then closed his eyes and concentrated.

"Getting serious huh, well then I will too; Byakugan!" Kenta said, activating his Kekkai Genkai, which was actually what Ryuunosuke was about to do, but the Kekkai Genkai he was about to use wasn't the Byakugan, and it wasn't the Sharingan either.

The name of this Kekkai Genkai was... "Daburuai!" **(Literally: Double Eye) **The word sounded from Ryuunosuke as he opened just his left eye.

Neither Kenta or Rei had been expected an outcome like this for Ryuunosuke's Kekkai Genkai. In Fact, anyone they asked had said that the child of an Uchiha and a Hyuuga would not have a Kekkai Genkai at all. It would have been surprising just to see Ryuunosuke have one of the Kekkai Genkai's, but what ended up happening was beyond their ability to comprehend.

They didn't understand how, but somehow, instead of canceling each other out, the Sharingan Kekkai Genkai and the Byakugan Kekkai Genkai actually merged to create a brand new ability; which they have named 'Daburuai'.

"First Release: Kashi-ka." **(Literally: Visualize)** Ryuunosuke said, activating the first ability of his Kekkai Genkai, then waited. After a moment, Kenta ran at Ryuunosuke, and trust a palm at him. For a moment it seemed like Ryuunosuke wasn't even going to try and dodge, but then at the last moment he moved his hand and hit Kenta's wrist to make his attack just narrowly miss, and afterward, Ryuunosuke closed his left eye and opened his right one to activate his Kekkai Genkai's second ability. "Second Release: Kogeki." **(Literally: Attack) **He said, and swung a kick at Kenta.

Kenta saw the kick coming, then tried to jump back to avoid it, but as he did, Ryuunosuke straitened his leg so that Kenta actually ended up jumping back into Ryuunosuke's kick. Ryuunosuke then threw Kenta to the side with his leg and switched back to having his left eye open.

"Hee, not bad Ryuunosuke. However, tossing me away was a big mistake... Because you are now in my 8 trigrams." Kenta told Ryuunosuke, then ran up to him and shooting two fingers at Ryuunosuke to perform 64 Palms.

However, as Kenta threw his hands at Ryuunosuke, Ryuunosuke started dodging with such subtle movements it was hard to believe it was possible. But no matter how easy Ryuunosuke was making it look, keeping up with the speed of an experienced Hyuuga was not simple, as each Palm Kenta thrust forward came closer and closer to hitting him.

After Kenta had gone through 30 Palm, he finally made contact with Ryuunosuke, hitting the first Chakra point. But just as he did, Ryuunosuke leaped backward, but that was actually a bigger mistake than getting Kenta in position for 64 Palms to begin with.

"Ha, your through." Kenta said, and ran strait for Ryuunosuke as he was still falling to the ground.

Ryuunosuke's eye told him the same thing. His Kekkai Genkai's first release had an ability similar to that of the Byakugan, however it's power far surpassed that of seeing the chakra system in an opponent's body. Rather than that, Kashi-ka showed every muscular twitch in the opponent's body, and as such allowed him to predict with 100% accuracy how he was about to move and attack, making it near impossible for someone to land a hit on him unless they were a great deal faster than he was.

Right now Ryuunosuke was in the air waiting for his feet to make contact with the ground to give him an opportunity to dodge, but his eye could tell that with Kenta's speed, that wasn't happening. Using Kogeki wouldn't help either because just as the name implied it helped him figure out the best angles to attack from in order to land the perfect hit on his opponent, it didn't help him dodge at all. The only other thing Ryuunosuke had was his Third Release, the strongest ability of his Kekkai Genkai, but that wouldn't help against Taijutsu. Ryuunosuke had no way out of this attack, and with that knowledge he closed both his eyes and felt his feet the ground.

"Not bad Ryuunosuke, not bad at all." Kenta said, and Ryuunosuke opened his eyes to see that Kenta had stopped his attack just before impact.

"Thanks Dad." Ryuunosuke replied.

"Alright, time to go back inside and get some sleep."

"Right,"

The next morning at breakfast Ryuunosuke had some news for his parents, "Um, Mom, Dad, I need to tell you something." He said after a moment of thought.

"What is it Ryuunosuke?" Rei asked.

"Go on son, no need to be nervous around us." Kenta said, noting Ryuunosuke's worried face.

"Well, I've decided that I want to leave home and go on a journey." Ryuunosuke replied.

"A journey? What's all this so suddenly?" Rei asked.

"It's not that sudden, I've been thinking about it for a while now." Ryuunosuke stated. "I want to learn more about my Kekkai Genkai, but/"

"You don't think you can do so unless you go out there and find out." Kenta finished his son's sentence for him. "Is that right?" He asked with an approving grin.

"Yeah..." Ryuunosuke said, feeling like his father had known this day was coming and prepared for it a long time ago. "The training we do has helped me to an extent, but unless I have real battles with others, I won't have ever really master it."

"I understand Ryuunosuke." Kenta said, stopping Ryuunosuke before he started rambling. "If I were you I would want to do the same thing. That's why I made the resolve a long time ago I would let you go without an argument."

"You don't have to worry Ryuunosuke." Rei told him. "I won't hold you back either."

Ryuunosuke was silent for a moment, having thought this would be a lot harder conversation then it turned out to be. "Thank you." He managed with a smile.

With that covered, Ryuunosuke packed some thing, and got ready to set off. "Wait just one moment Ryuunosuke." Kenta said before his son left.

"What is it Dad?" Ryuunosuke asked.

"I want you to have something I've been saving for a special occasion." Kenta said and put something small in Ryuunosuke's hand.

Ryuunosuke looked at what it was and his eyes widened, then looked up at his father. "Thanks, Dad." Was all he could manage.

"That there is very special, don't use it." Kenta said.

"I understand." Ryuunosuke replied, putting the item in his pocket. "Well, I guess it's time for me to leave." Ryuunosuke said, and began to walk away from his village, not knowing when he would return to his parents, but he looked forward to the day he could say to them... 'I'm home.'


	7. The First Meeting

_Chapter 6: The First Meeting_

**Time Frame: 2 months after Naruto left to search for Sasuke with Jiraiya.**

**Location: Village Hidden in the Grass.**

"Thanks for the meal." Ryuunosuke said as he paid for his food and left. it had been 2 months since he left home to try and figure out his Kekkai Genkai, yet so far he had turned up empty-handed.

Ryuunosuke headed out to a field in order to train. He took a deep breathe and closed both his eyes, then opened just his left eye to activate the First Release of his Kekkai Genkai, Kashi-ka. He wasn't practicing it's defensive quality, as he could only do that in battle, but rather it's scanning capabilities. This stage of his Kekkai Genkai could work much like the Byakugan, in which he could scan great lengths in all direction for chakra, but more than that he was able to read chakra. Using this stage he could tell how strong a ninja was in terms of Jutsu, and even what chakra natures they were capable of, allowing him to get a good clue about how to go about fighting them.

As he looked through the chakra's in the Hidden Grass Village, he saw a number of decent ninja, but it was actually a chakra outside of the village that caught his interest. The chakra was coming closer, and it was extremely powerful, quite a bit stronger than his own chakra even. After a few minutes, the man appeared on the field, and Ryuunosuke stopped the use of his Kekkai Genkai.

The man had black hair and red eyes, and was wearing a white robe tied with a black belt around his waist and was wearing a hidden cloud headband. "Might as well stay here for a while." He said to himself and walked toward the village.

"Hey," Ryuunosuke said and walked toward the man. "Who are you?"

"Who's asking?" The man asked.

"My name is Ryuunosuke. I've been traveling to find strong ninja to do battle with. You caught my eye just now." Ryuunosuke explained.

"I caught your eye you say? Well then you must have a good eye. My name is Takahiro, I am looking to get stronger as well, so I will accept your challenge."

Ryuunosuke and Takahiro got ready to fight. "I warn you, I'm not your average ninja, and I'm not going to go easy on you." Takahiro told Ryuunosuke.

"I already know all that, you caught my eye for a reason." Ryuunosuke noted, then close his eyes, and then opened his left eye. "Daburuai; First Release: Kashi-ka!"

_What's that? _Takahiro wondered as Ryuunosuke used the strange skill. _His power seems to reside in his eyes, but I thought that was only with Sharingan and Byakugan. _"This should be interesting." Takahiro said, then made hand signs. "Earth Style: Rock Wave Jutsu." He called, and then a wave of earth rose up to attack Ryuunosuke.

_Impressive jutsu, with this kind of move, there's only one possible direction to dodge... _Ryuunosuke thought, and made hand signs just as the earth wave crashed down on him.

"Hee, so were you all talk?" Takahiro called out.

"Of course I'm not." Takahiro heard Ryuunosuke's voice come from below him, and looked down to see Ryuunosuke's hand come out of the ground. "Earth Style: Head Hunter Jutsu." He called, and pulled down on Takahiro's leg.

"I don't think so!" Takahiro said, and used his strength to actually pull Ryuunosuke out of the ground and throw him to the side.

"Not bad, but I suppose it's only fair to warn you right now, I know you are using an Earth Style Defense to cover your body." Ryuunosuke stated.

"What, how could you/ You eye?" Takahiro was surprised.

"That's correct." Ryuunosuke replied.

"Well, knowing that doesn't do you much good unless you have Lightning Style."

"No, even if I did, it wouldn't help me against you, not with the Wind Style you have in reserve." Ryuunosuke replied, and left Takahiro speechless.

_What kind of power does that eye of his hold? _Takahiro wondered.

"In light of that knowledge, continuing the use of my first release won't help me much, my second release will be even more useless. Giving me one more option here..." Ryuunosuke said, and opened his right eye without closing his left like he would for Kogeki. "... Third Release: Kyanseru!" **(Literally: Cancel) **Once Ryuunosuke called out this third release, Takahiro got defensive instinctively, and then Ryuunosuke ran up to him, jumped and spin kicked at Takahiro's head.

Takahiro put up his hand to catch the kick. "Taijutsu is/" Takahiro started, but then when Ryuunosuke's leg got an inch away from his hand, his Rock Skin began to crumble off of his hand, as if it were trying to avoid being touched by Ryuunosuke, thought Takahiro still caught his leg. "Wh-what?" Takahiro was speechless to what just happened, so much so that his focused was so transfixed upon the leg he just caught he didn't even notice Ryuunosuke swing his fist at his face until a moment before it hit him, when the Earth Jutsu crumbled off his face, leaving him vulnerable to the punch, and knocking him back.

Takahiro stared with absolute shock on his face. "I can see you don't understand what just happened, so allow me to explain." Ryuunosuke said. "My Kekkai Genkai, Daburuai, has three releases. My third release is called Kyanseru, and it's power is to do just that, 'cancel' jutsu." Ryuunosuke told Takahiro. "What it does is set a special invisible shell around me using my own chakra that has a sort of reverse flow to it, so whenever it gets near something infused with chakra, that thing is automatically stripped clean of the chakra holding it up, which is why your rock skin crumbled as I neared it."

Takahiro stood shocked for another moment, but then grinned at this incredible challenge. "I see, well then I guess I'll have to do something I haven't done in a long time..." He said, and put his hand on his chest, and the rock skin he wore broke apart, leaving his real body unprotected. "... I'll have to disregard my armor. You really are something else Ryuunosuke, throughout all my battles, only two others have gotten past my Rock Skin Jutsu, so I will regard you as the second strongest person I've ever fought."

"Second strongest huh, so already you consider me stronger than one of those two others. I suppose I should feel honored, considering the fair difference in our real powers." Ryuunosuke said.

"Are you saying you think you are that much stronger than I am?" Takahiro asked, displeased by the arrogance.

"No, it's the exact opposite, you are that much stronger than I." Ryuunosuke corrected him. "If I thought I was stronger, I wouldn't have asked to fight you."

"I see, so you're humble, that a good quality to have in battle. But enough talk, time to get back to the battle." Takahiro said, making hand signs. "Wind Style: Wind sickle jutsu!" Takahiro called as the wind picked up and a large sickle of wind was sent toward Ryuunosuke, but Ryuunosuke held out his hands and when the sickle came near, it broke apart under Ryuunosuke's Kyanseru. "Not yet," Takahiro said, taking a vile and drinking what was in it, then making more hand signs. "Geyser Shot Jutsu!" He called, and shot out a ton of rushing water at Ryuunosuke, but the result was the same, and the water couldn't actually hit him, it just fell apart. But Takahiro made more hand signs. "Fissure Jutsu!" He said, then stomped down on the ground, making the ground all around begin to brake up and rise.

This time however, Ryuunosuke seemed to get more defensive. "First Release: Kashi-ka." He called, closing his right eye, and watched or a moment as the fissure came closer to him. Just before the fissure reached him, Ryuunosuke jumped up, and when the plate rose up, Ryuunosuke landed on it without any problem, then opened both his eyes again to go back into Kyanseru.

_What, why did he dodge that one? It's just another Ninjutsu. _Takahiro wondered, but stopped thinking about it as Ryuunosuke began to run up to him.

When Ryuunosuke got close, he made some hand signs. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" He called, and shot a large fireball strait for Takahiro.

"Water Style: Water Wall Jutsu!" Takahiro said as he made hand signs and a wall of water rose up to block the fire jutsu.

But then, just after the Jutsu's ended, Ryuunosuke punched at Takahiro, and he only had his right eye open now. "Second Release: Kogeki!" He said as he punched.

Takahiro tried to dodge by shifting to the side, but just as he did, Ryuunosuke's hand seemed to follow him, and still hit him in the face. And this time Ryuunosuke didn't stop at one punch this time, he continued to make jabs at Takahiro, and each time Takahiro tried to dodge, Ryuunosuke's fist just seemed to follow him as if they were magnetized to him.

Another punch came, and this time Takahiro kept his ground and took the punch full on, but then grabbed Ryuunosuke's arm before he could get away. "Take this!" Takahiro said, and flipped Ryuunosuke onto his back, then kicked him away.

Just as Ryuunosuke got back up, Takahiro was on top of him again. _He's fast! _Ryuunosuke thought as it only took a moment, but didn't hesitate to throw a punch at Takahiro as Takahiro threw a punch at him, both stopping just before the punches connected, and grinned at each other.

"You said there was a fair difference between our strength Ryuunosuke." Takahiro said. "But if you ask me, I think you make up for that difference in strength with an equal difference in skill." He told him, and the two of them clapped hands.

"As I recall, you said that you are also looking get stronger by fighting strong opponents, correct?" Ryuunosuke asked.

"That's right." Takahiro said, realizing the two of them had the same thought.

"So how would you feel about us traveling with me so we can look for strong opponents together. Maybe I'll even get to battle those two other you mark as the strongest people you've done battle with, and get to beat the one you think is weaker than me." Ryuunosuke said.

"That sounds like a plan to me." Takahiro said in agreement. _With this guy with me, getting my revenge might become easier than I thought._

"Perfect!" Ryuunosuke exclaimed. _This is it, after two months of searching, I think I'm finally starting to find the answer I'm looking for. The answer to my Kekkai Genkai._


	8. Hidden Potential

_Chapter 7: Hidden Potential_

Ryuunosuke and Takahiro were resting from sparring with each other, the two of them really were a great match to fight against. "So tell me Ryuunosuke," Takahiro began. "During our fight, you called your eye ability Kekkai Genkai correct?"

"That's right," Ryuunosuke replied.

"But how is it that it resides in your eyes? I thought the only eye Kekkai Genkai's were Sharingan and Byakugan." Takahiro pointed.

Ryuunosuke paused at the question, wondering what the appropriate way to answer the question was. "To be honest, I only call it Kekkai Genkai because I inherited the power from my parents. Under regular Kekkai Genkai rulings, I'm not entirely sure it can be classified as such."

"Interesting, could you elaborate on that?" Takahiro asked.

"I can try." Ryuunosuke said. "you may not believe this, but my parents are from separate clans."

"That's not too unbelievable."

"It is once you hear which clans their from. My father is from the Hyuuga clan, and my mother is from the Uchiha clan."

"Wait, your mother is an Uchiha, but weren't the Uchiha massacred?"

"Yes, but the thing is neither Uchiha's nor Hyuuga's would allow them to marry, so long before that massacre happened they ran away, soon after giving birth to me."

"So your Kekkai Genkai was forged by the combination of the Sharingan and Byakugan, thus its name, Daburuai." _Well that's interesting, so there's another Uchiha still alive out there._

"Right, so my eyes carry abilities that are fusions of the powers the Sharingan and Byakugan, but I don't even know what the limits of my powers are myself. That's why I'm traveling around, to meet and battle strong opponents to try and learn what those limits are."

"And then you ran into me."

"That's right, my first release has the power to examine chakra similar to how the Byakugan can, only I take it a step farther. I can tell just how strong someone is by their chakra and I can tell what kind of chakra natures they are capable of using.

"That explains how you knew I had wind jutsu before I used it."

"My first release also gives me the power to analyze my opponents movements to such a degree I can make perfect dodges unless my opponent is too fast for me. My second release works in a similar way, only opposite. It allows me to analyze my own movements so I can make perfectly accurate attacks that my opponent won't be able to dodge unless they are just too fast for me."

"You've already explained to me how your third release works, which just leaves me with one more question."

"What is it?"

"When I used my fissure jutsu, why did you switch to your first release and dodge it? Wouldn't your Kyanseru have worked on it just as well as any of my other jutsu?"

"No actually." Ryuunosuke replied. "Putting it simply, you can categorize Ninjutsu in two areas. Direct, and indirect."

"I don't think I understand."

"A jutsu like your Geyser Shot jutsu in an example of direct jutsu, when using this jutsu, the water you shot out of your mouth is really just chakra molded into a water like state, so when the water gets near me while I'm using my third release, the chakra de-compacts and can no longer keep its water like jutsu state. But on the other hand, your fissure jutsu is an example of indirect jutsu, in which kind you shoot your chakra out into the ground around you in all directions, and that chakra breaks up the ground as it passes, rather than infusing with the ground to make it crack. That's why I had to dodge it instead, by examining the chakra flow through the ground and figuring out the perfect point to jump to avoid damage."

"I see," Takahiro replied.

"So what about you, how many jutsu can you use?" Ryuunosuke asked.

"Well, with the training I received from my old... _mentor_... I suppose you could have called him back then, I am capable of using countless jutsu. Many are strong enough to wipe out whole armies in an instant."

"Amazing," Ryuunosuke commented. "Now then, about your chakra natures..."

"Huh, what about them?" Takahiro became confused.

"Well I noticed you only used Earth, Wind, and Water Styles during our fight-"

"Well maybe that's because their the only three I am capable of using." Takahiro interrupted.

"What?" Ryuunosuke seemed confused.

"I only use Earth, Wind, and Water jutsu, I can't use any others."

Ryuunosuke smiled at this. "So I was right."

"About what?"

"You have a fourth chakra nature, but when I saw it I noticed it was weak and untrained. The weak level it's at explains why you didn't notice you had it, but it is there." Ryuunosuke explained.

"A-amazing..." Takahiro managed. He was just astounded this high a level of chakra perception was even possible. "So it is possible for me to utilize this fourth chakra nature right?" He asked.

"Yes, although training its use will be more difficult then learning your other chakra natures." Ryuunosuke said.

"I'll go through whatever training I need if it means getting stronger." Takahiro said with a smirk.

"Very well then, the weak chakra nature you possess is fire, since I possess fire nature as well, it will be slightly easier to teach you to use it, but only just." Ryuunosuke told Takahiro.

"I got you." Takahiro replied.

"I can tell from your chakra that you have a lot of hidden potential that you have yet to tap into. It would be a shame if we just let it all go to waste." Ryuunosuke told Takahiro.

"That's quite true, it is a waste if someone never unlocks their full potential. You should know that more than anyone, right?" Takahiro told Ryuunosuke. "After, you realized you had a lot of hidden potential yourself, and you left home to go and find out what it was."

"Yea, that's true."

"But hey, you don't need special eyes to notice someone's potential Ryuunosuke; just an open mind. And even an arrogant man who wants to think he's the best there ever was can see that you have the potential to do amazing things." Takahiro said.

"Takahiro..." Ryuunosuke wasn't sure how to reply to this. "Well if that's true, then between the two of us we probably have enough potential to take over a small ninja village." He said, half joking.

"Yea, between the two of us we might be able to do something like that." Takahiro agreed, also half joking.

"If you're ready to start training now..." Ryuunosuke began.

"Yea, let's get to it." Takahiro said, and faced Ryuunosuke.

"Alright, First Release: Kashi-ka!" Ryuunosuke said as he closed his right eye to activate the first release.

"Why do you need to use your Kekkai Genkai?" Takahiro asked.

"If I use this, I'll be able to visually see how fast your progressing, or if we need to try something different based on how the fire chakra in you reacts to the current method."

"That's some crazy strong jutsu you have." Takahiro said.

"I think that myself some/" Ryuunosuke began, but then noticed something in the trees behind them that made him worry a bit.

"Something wrong, Ryuunosuke?" Takahiro asked.

"No, it's nothing." Ryuunosuke lied. "Watch me then do it yourself." Ryuunosuke told him with a plan in mind as he started making hand signs.

The hand signs he was using weren't in accordance to any kind of jutsu, but rather just fakes to silently communicate with Takahiro what he noticed using Morse Code. Takahiro noticed what he was doing, and paid close attention to what he was saying.

_Let's see, one long, then one short and two long, and three long; __**TWO**__. _Takahiro thought as he read the code. _Two people watching us._ He translated, becoming surprised but understood what Ryuunosuke wanted him to do. _We'll get them to come out and explain themselves. Be cautious, they're both close to the Jonnin level. _Then Ryuunosuke finished, and Takahiro nodded.

"Come try it over here." Ryuunosuke said, leading Takahiro over to the tree the ninja were hiding in. "Second Release: Kogeki." Ryuunosuke opened his right eye while closing his left one. "On three, one... two... three!" Ryuunosuke said and both of them jumped up and caught one of the people in the tree, only to realize they were both Anbu black ops. "What, Anbu?" Ryuunosuke wondered what they could be doing watching them.

"Let us go!" One of the Anbu demanded.

"Tell us why you're spying on us first." Ryuunosuke demanded.

"We were waiting on a chance to catch him!" the other Anbu said, facing Takahiro. "He's a rouge ninja from the Hidden Cloud who was working with Orochimaru!" The Anbu accused, shocking Ryuunosuke.

"Is what he just said true, Takahiro?" Ryuunosuke asked, turning to him.

Takahiro took a moment to respond. "Yea, it's true." He admitted, not trying to hide it or sound ashamed at all, which actually surprised Ryuunosuke even more then the simple fact it was true.

Ryuunosuke wasn't sure what to think as a minute of silence began.


	9. Decisions to Make

_Chapter 8: Decisions to Make_

"We were waiting on a chance to catch him!" the other Anbu said, facing Takahiro. "He's a rouge ninja from the Hidden Cloud who was working with Orochimaru!" The Anbu accused, shocking Ryuunosuke.

"Is what he just said true, Takahiro?" Ryuunosuke asked, turning to him.

Takahiro took a moment to respond. "Yea, it's true." He admitted, not trying to hide it or sound ashamed at all, which actually surprised Ryuunosuke even more then the simple fact it was true.

"You see? Anbu from the Hidden Cloud Village have been after him for years! If you don't release us you'll be making yourself an accomplice and an enemy of the Cloud." The Anbu warned Ryuunosuke.

"Takahiro," Ryuunosuke began. "Is there anything you would like to say in your defense?"

Takahiro waited before responding. "It is entirely true that I am a traitor of the Hidden Cloud who served Orochimaru." Takahiro said. "But I am no longer Orochimaru's servant. No, really I was just his tool the whole time, he really is nothing but a dirty snake."

"If you have really turned against Orochimaru, then turn yourself in to us." One of the Anbu's suggested. "You could prove your allegiance back to the Hidden Cloud by providing us with Intel about Orochimaru and his hideouts."

"Unfortunately, I cannot do that." Takahiro said.

"Why not?" The second Anbu asked.

"I promised myself when I left Orochimaru that I would personally kill that guy with my own hands. I am sorry, but I will not return to the Hidden Cloud until I accomplish this task."

"Interesting story, but we can't take your word on it!" The Anbu said. "You're coming with us whether you want to or/" The Anbu started, but then Ryuunosuke knocked him unconscious and let him fall.

"What are you doing!" The other Anbu member asked Ryuunosuke.

"This is my choice, I don't believe Takahiro is lying, so I will trust him for now, and help him reach his goal." Ryuunosuke said.

"He could still be lying to you though." The Anbu said.

"If it comes to that... I will personally take Takahiro back to the Hidden Cloud Village myself, by force if necessary." Ryuunosuke told the Anbu.

"You would accept such a burden?" The Anbu asked.

"Yes, I would."

"I see, if that is the case then any other person would let you go." The Anbu said. "Although since I am an Anbu Black Op, I am not permitted to overlook this, if you want to get out of here without a fight, you'd best knock me out as well."

"Very well, we will do so." Ryuunosuke told him, and Takahiro proceeded to knocking him unconscious, and the two of them ran off into the forest.

They continued running until the Hidden Grass Village was out of view, then stopped to catch their breathe. "Thanks, Ryuunosuke." Takahiro said.

"Don't thank me just yet. Like I said I don't believe you were lying to the Anbu, but I want to put any doubt I have behind right now."

"How do you intend to do that?"

"With my First Release." Ryuunosuke said, activate Kashi-ka. "My first release has one more power I haven't told you about yet. If I examine someone's chakra like this while their talking, I can actually tell whether or not their telling the truth. So I'll ask you a question and you better not even think about lying, because I'll know and take you back to the Hidden Cloud like I told the Anbu I would." Ryuunosuke explained, and Takahiro looked a bit nervous.

"Fine, ask away." Takahiro told Ryuunosuke.

"Have you really cut all your ties to Orochimaru, and no longer have any wish to do what he bids?" Ryuunosuke asked.

Takahiro grinned. "Since you'll be able to tell if I lie, I will speak the honest truth. I have but one tie to Orochimaru left." He admitted. "It's a tie that I am unable to get rid of, and the one I wish I could be rid of most of all. The curse mark he gave me is the only thing on me that ties me to him, and I have absolutely no desire to go back to him, I wish him dead just like anyone else that has ever met him." Takahiro finished.

"I'm glad to hear that, the fact you gave me the information you do still have a tie to him means you truely were honest." Ryuunosuke said as he de-activated his Kekkai Genkai.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Takahiro asked, not understanding why Ryuunosuke needed something else to confirm he was telling the truth.

"Because I was lying when I told you I would be able to tell if you were lying." Ryuunosuke confessed. "My Kekkai Genkai holds no such power to determine what is a true of false statement, the idea is simply ridiculous."

Takahiro was surprised, and in that surprise he couldn't help but laugh. "That's a clever ploy though. Maybe you should have hung on to that lie yourself a while." He said.

"That would serve no purpose, sooner or later you would have learned I didn't have the power." Ryuunosuke said, also grinning at his own lie. "Might as well tell you now."

"I suppose that's true." Takahiro replied. "Now we should probably get out of here before those Anbu wake up and start chasing us again."

"Right," Ryuunosuke agreed and they started off again.

"Hey, wake up." The Anbu that let the two of them go woke the first Anbu.

"Where are they?" The Anbu asked hurriedly as he woke up.

"Their gone already, ran off into the forest." The second Anbu told the first. "In any case, we should probably report this to the Raikage."

"Yeah, you're probably right." The other Anbu agreed, and they headed off.

After they were sure the Anbu wouldn't be able to find them, Ryuunosuke and Takahiro stopped to make camp for the night. "So, Ryuunosuke," Takahiro began. "What's the real reason you helped me out with those Anbu?" He asked, and the question surprised Ryuunosuke.

"What do you mean? I said back there that I didn't think you were lying." Ryuunosuke replied.

"True, but just because you believed my words wasn't enough of a reason to help me make an escape, let alone risk turning yourself into an enemy of the Hidden Cloud. Trusting someone in itself is not enough of a reason to do that much, so you must have had another motive." Takahiro explained.

Ryuunosuke sighed before replying. "I guess... it's because when I met you, I thought I was finally starting to learn about my Kekkai Genkai. I didn't want to let the chance to learn slip away from me." Ryuunosuke said.

"I see, I guess when you put it like that, anyone would have done what you did." Takahiro thought.

"Yeah, now we just need to figure out where to go next, can't just sit around here if those Anbu are after you." Ryuunosuke noted.

"That's true, but where do we go exactly?" Takahiro wondered.

"I guess we'll just have to wander a bit. Not much else to do in this case." Ryuunosuke replied. "We can start working on your fire nature tomorrow morning, for now let's just get some sleep."

"Good idea, a little shut eye would do us both a lot of good at this point." Takahiro agreed, and the two of them layed down to sleep.


	10. Master Trainer

Takahiro made hand signs for Fireball Jutsu. "Fire Style: Fireball/"

"Stop!" Ryuunosuke suddenly cut in, he was sitting down watching Takahiro train using his Kashi-ka. "Try again."

"Ryuunosuke, that's the fifth time you've stopped me without any sort of explanation."

"Again Takahiro," Ryuunosuke said.

Takahiro sighed and made the hand signs again. "Fire Style: Fireball Jus-"

"Stop!" Ryuunosuke said again, getting Takahiro extremely angry.

"Ryuunosuke!" Takahiro yelled. "Would you stop doing, next time I'll target you with the Justu!" Takahiro yelled, then made the hand signs again. "Fire/"

"Stop!" Ryuunosuke said again.

"What did I just tell you?" Takahiro asked, turning toward Ryuunosuke and making the hand signs. "Fire Style: Fireball Justu!" Takahiro yelled, this time uninterrupted by Ryuunosuke, who smiled as the fireball justu erupted from his lips, flying toward him.

In response, Ryuunosuke opened both his eyes. "Third Release: Kyanseru." Ryuunosuke said as he held up his hand, and the Justu diminished before him. "Excellent," Ryuunosuke told Takahiro.

"Ha, well I guess I showed you huh, I knew I could do it the first time." Takahiro boasted.

"You're wrong," Ryuunosuke said as he stood up. "Had I let you go through with the Justu any of the previous times, it would have blown up in your face."

"What do you mean?" Takahiro asked, seeming to calm down finally.

"You're capability to use fire style jutsu is still low, and after so long, it's going to be hard to train you to summon up the right chakra to use fire jutsu. if you don't put the right chakra's together, you'll just end up have the fire nature chakra blow up." Ryuunosuke explained.

"I see,"

"That's why I did what I did. Sometimes a chakra nature can be brought forth more easily when you experience a certain emotion. Fire corresponds to anger or rage. Making you angry at me made the fire nature chakra come forth more easily."

"Oh, if all I need to do is get angry, then you should have just told me that from the beginning. I'll just think of the person that I hate!" Takahiro said, beginning to form the hand signs again.

"You mean Orochimaru?" Ryuunosuke asked, and Takahiro just grinned as he unleashed another fireball jutsu easily.

"Although, just getting angry each time won't make you a master. It may help it come more easily, but to master it you'll have to practice gathering fire nature chakra normally."

"I got you,"

"Well, that's enough for right now. We should get moving." Ryuunosuke said.

"That's all well and good, but where exactly do we go?" Takahiro asked.

"For now, we'll head west, toward the Land of Wind."

"Why's that?"

"Why not is a better question. All we're doing is trying to keep from being found by Anbu from you're village."

"I guess you've got a point there." Takahiro agreed, and the two started off.

**6 weeks later**

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Takahiro called and shot a large fireball at Ryuunosuke.

"Third Release: Kyanseru!" Ryuunosuke said and held out his hand, negating the jutsu. "Second Release: Kogeki!" Ryuunosuke switched and ran at Takahiro jumping to his side and spin kicking him where he couldn't dodge, then jumped back before he could counter. "Now, Phoenix Flower Justu!" Ryuunosuke called and send many darts of fire down on Takahiro.

"Water Style: Water Pulse Jutsu!" Takahiro said and water erupted around him to send out a wave of water in all directions to stop Ryuunosuke's fire jutsu.

The two stopped and stared each other down for a moment, but then Ryuunosuke relaxed himself. "Good work, hard to believe you've gotten the hang of using fire style justu in just over a month." He said.

"Thanks, but you got to give yourself proper credit for that, your Kashi-ka is really helpful for training people." Takahiro said, sitting down.

The two of them were still heading for the Land of Wind. Had they been going strait through to it, they would have gotten there a long time ago, but they had been stopping for quite some time in each town they past. They weren't in any sort of rush, but they also couldn't take too much time.

"We're just about at the border to the Land of Wind, once we cross it we'll head strait to the Hidden Sand Village and stay there for a few days while we figure out where to go next." Ryuunosuke said. "We'll set out tomorrow after getting some food and sleep tonight."

"Sure thing, best get back to the hotel now then." Takahiro said, and the two of them headed back to the village.

Right now Takahiro and Ryuunosuke were the River Country's Village, Tani, where they had been staying at a hotel. They had been here for about a week, so it really was about time for them to hit the road again. On their way to their hotel, they noticed a shop that a few ninja were gathering at, and thought they should look at what was going on.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Ryuunosuke asked one of the ninja.

"The owner of this shop is having his monthly ninja tool sale. Each month he puts out a bunch of ninja tools, including popular and rare ones that you can't find at the other ninja tool stores around here." The ninja replied.

"Really, maybe we should take a look then." Ryuunosuke suggested, looking back at Takahiro.

"Nah," Takahiro said. "I've never taken to using ninja tools, my justu has always been enough for me."

Ryuunosuke shrugged. "I think I'll take a look myself anyways." He said and looked at the ninja tools on display.

The store owner had everything from average kunai and shuriken to ninja pills and exploding tags. He also had his special ninja tools displayed on the back wall, including things like demon wind shuriken. But there were a pair of blades that caught Ryuunosuke's eye. These blades were long, thin, the blades were shaped to look like fire, and they appeared to be meant to attach to the arms, having large grips on the blunt sides of the blades.

"What are these?" Ryuunosuke asked the store owner.

"You've got a good eye boy." The store owner said. "That is a fancy pair of chakra blades."

"Chakra blades?" Ryuunosuke inquired.

"That's right, I got that for a fairly low price from Konoha, the Hidden Leaf Village; and they have an interesting history. They told me these were originally custom made for a specific person, so it would only work with her chakra." The store owner told Ryuunosuke.

"Custom made to work with a specific person's chakra, is that even possible?"

"Apparently so, anyone else who tried it couldn't get it to work."

"Mind if I take a look?" Ryuunosuke asked.

"Not at all, but there just blades being used by anyone else." The store owner warned.

Ryuunosuke put the blades on his arms, got used to how they felt for a minute, then closed his right eye, activating Kashi-ka, although. "Hm, interesting..." He said, then after a moment flames appeared on it, showing that Ryuunosuke made them work for his chakra.

The store owner was surprised. "H-how did you do that?" He asked.

"Can't tell you, that's a secret between me and the person these belonged to."

"Did you know the original owner?"

"No, but I do know why no one else could get these to work. So who did originally own these." Ryuunosuke asked as the fire vanished from the chakra blades.

"That's the most interesting part of the blades. The guy's that sold this to me didn't know exactly who, but they said they were originally used by an Uchiha." The store owner said, and that peeked Ryuunosuke's interest in these blades.

"So how much?"

"Considering you can get them to work, that makes them a lot more valuable. 300 is what I'm asking for."

"That's a bit much," Ryuunosuke said shifting through his money. "I'll give you 150, how's that?"

"No chance, I want at leas 250 or no deal." The store owner said. Ryuunosuke thought for a moment, but decided he wanted these enough to put forth the demand. He sighed and gave the money for the chakra blades, and went back to Takahiro.

"So how did you get those things to work?" Takahiro asked as Ryuunosuke strapped the blades to his back.

"Sorry, I can't tell. I was serious about the 'keeping it a secret' thing." Ryuunosuke replied.

"I got, I got it, I guess I understand." Takahiro said, and didn't press any farther as they made their way back to the hotel.


	11. The Chakra Blades

_Chapter 10: The Chakra Blades_

Takahiro and Ryuunosuke were heading through the desert for the Hidden Sand Village. Although despite leaving first thing in the morning, the quickest they could arrive at the village was about midnight.

"So, this will be your first time to the Hidden Sand right?" Takahiro asked.

"First time out of the Land of Fire. My parents and I were the only ninja in my village, it's not like I went on missions that would take me elsewhere." Ryuunosuke answered. "What about you? Did you ever come here on a mission before you betrayed your village?"

"Yeah, I went there once on a mission. It was an A rank mission to assist a small task force in taking out a few dangerous rouge ninja who had been causing a whole ton of trouble in the village." Takahiro told Ryuunosuke. "Although the rouge ninja were originally from the Hidden Cloud, if they hadn't been from our village, we probably never would've lent a hand." Takahiro's mind seemed to start drifting away from the conversation, as his voice began slowing and become less audible.

"Something wrong?" Ryuunosuke asked.

"Huh, oh nothing... I was just wondering about how you got those chakra blades to work again." Takahiro said, pointing to the blades Ryuunosuke had strapped to his back.

"I told you before I won't tell you." Ryuunosuke answered, going along with the poorly placed excuse Takahiro used to change the topic. He could tell there was something about the mission Takahiro didn't like, but Ryuunosuke wasn't one to pry.

"I know you used Kashi-ka to find whatever it was, I just can't figure out what could be in those things that would tell you how to use them."

"Even if I told you, It would take you years of guesswork without my help to figure out how to make them work, if ever."

"That's pretty cocky talk. I'd say put your money where your mouth is, but I can tell your not a gambling man." Takahiro replied. "Still, I must admit I'd like to see those things in action; how about it?"

With that Ryuunosuke came to a halt, and Takahiro followed his lead. "I'll take you up on that offer. Just to warn you though, these blades have more than one trick." He said as he attached the blades to his arms and used his chakra to surround the blades with his fire nature chakra. "And I'm not going easy. First Release: Kashi-ka!" He called.

"I wouldn't expect you to." Takahiro said. "Here I come," He called, running toward Ryuunosuke and throwing a punch down on him. In response Ryuunosuke waited for the last moment using Kashi-ka, then stepped back just enough to avoid the attack, and thrust his chakra blade at him. _Ryuunosuke didn't activate Kogeki, so I still have a chance to dodge!_ Takahiro thought as he jumped backwards, and the chakra blade missed him by inches.

"Got you," Ryuunosuke said and gripped the handle on the end of the chakra blade to send out a flare of fire at Takahiro.

"Crap!" Takahiro said and made to flip backward to dodge the flare, and managed to get away with it just skimming his face and flying past. When he stood up the flare had scorched the side of his face a bit, but he didn't look as if in pain. "Ha, good thing I was wearing my Rock Skin, or that could have been pretty bad." He said and the rock crumbled off his face, showing he himself didn't get injured.

"Don't get cocky, how many of those do you think you can take?" Ryuunosuke asked, holding both chakra blades aimed toward Takahiro, and then multiple flares shot out of both of them, heading strait for Takahiro.

Then Takahiro made hand signs. "Earth Style: Mud Wall Jutsu!" He called, making a large wall come up to block the flares.

Even though there was no particular advantage to either element jutsu, the flares Ryuunosuke sent at Takahiro's Mud Wall jutsu were surprisingly high in force, and started cracking the wall quickly. After 6 flares, the wall broke down completely, but Takahiro was no longer behind it. "What?" Ryuunosuke was surprised since his Kashi-ka hadn't been able to track Takahiro's movement's with the Mud Wall between them.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Ryuunosuke heard the call from above, and looked up to see many small fire balls shooting strait for him, but he didn't even switch to Kyanseru when he saw this, instead he held out his chakra blades and twisted the handles.

With this, when the fire style jutsu got close to the chakra blades, the flames seemed to be absorbed into the blades, as if giving it extra fuel. "Sorry, fire type Jutsu's are completely useless against these blades, any and all fire jutsu can be sucked into the chakra blades and converted into an extra energy source so I won't have to use so much chakra myself." Ryuunosuke said.

"I see, is that all they can do or is there more to come?" Takahiro asked.

"If this was all there was to them it would be a rip off." Ryuunosuke replied and lowered on of the blades to the sand. "Try this on for size." He said and swung the blade up, and out of it came a blade of fire running across the sand strait for Takahiro.

"Water Style: Geyser Shot Jutsu!" Takahiro called as he made more hand signed, then shot water from his mouth that first extinguished the flames and then continued on for Ryuunosuke.

However, using his Kashi-ka, Ryuunosuke was able to get out of the way just before it hit him and then he ran up to Takahiro and swung his chakra blade at him. Takahiro put his arm up to block with his Rock Skin, but it wasn't able to protect him completely. The sharp blade along with the fire chakra sliced through the defense and managed to inflict as minor cut to Takahiro, but only the tip of the chakra blade managed the cut.

"Well, remind me later to make my Rock Skin about 2 centimeters thicker." Takahiro joked because he wouldn't have been cut at all if it was.

"No matter how thick it is, it won't help you if I do this; Third Release: Kyanseru." Ryuunosuke called as he opened both eye.

Now Kyanseru would just remove the chakra infused with the rock skin jutsu to make it crumble away, leaving Takahiro wide open. Takahiro prepared for the attacked, planning on dodging it and attacking Ryuunosuke from behind. However, rather than run forward, Ryuunosuke held his chakra blades to the side and pulled the handles back, causing the flames on the blades blaze out of control.

The flames pushed Ryuunosuke forward like rockets so fast Takahiro wouldn't have had time to dodge even if hadn't been caught off guard. Ryuunosuke was immediately in front of Takahiro and thrust one of his chakra blades at Takahiro's chest, but Takahiro, recovering from his moment of shock and given an extra second since Ryuunosuke had to stop the fire rockets before attacking, reached out to grab Ryuunosuke's arm before the attack hit, and next the two were in a stand-off.

The flames vanished from the chakra blades and Ryuunosuke stepped back. "That's good for now wouldn't you say?" He said.

"So, was that all your blades had to offer or are you still holding some of their better abilities from me?" Takahiro asked, relaxing himself a bit.

"Naturally I didn't show you all of their powers, no point showing you everything at once, that's no fun." Ryuunosuke answered.

"I guess you have a point." Takahiro replied.

"Well, we've wasted enough time now, let's get a move on for the Hidden Sand Village."

"Sure thing," Takahiro said, and the two of them started heading for the village again.

It took the two of them a little longer than expected to get to the village, so they only arrived a couple hours before the sun would rise. It was a little too late to try finding a hotel for the night, so Ryuunosuke and Takahiro just rested their eyes on the outskirts of the village until morning. Once some of the villagers were wandering around out of their houses, the two of them got up and started walking around, acting natural.

After all, they weren't here for any specific reason, they were just going to stay here for a few days then leave because of the Anbu hunting Takahiro. Ryuunosuke was still looking for another strong ninja to fight, hoping he could get more insight to his special Kekkai Genkai, and so he closed his right eye and activated Kashi-ka, examining everyone's chakra around him, looking for anyone he though might me good to fight.

But then Takahiro turned and went down another street without Ryuunosuke. "Hey, where are you going?" Ryuunosuke asked.

"Well remember I've been here before, there's just something I want to check on." Takahiro told him. "Once I'm done I'll find you, so don't worry about it."

"Alright then, don't take too long." Ryuunosuke told him and the two split up. Ryuunosuke looked around for a minute or two and then walked up to a hidden sand ninja, seeing his chakra to be around the same level as his own. "Excuse me, could I bother you for a sparring match?" He asked.

Takahiro ended up in a dark corridor lit dimly by torches along the wall. In front of him was a wooden door, when he knocked a voice asked, "What's the Password?"

In response Takahiro smiled and answered. "Sabotage," And once he said the word the door opened for him, and lead into a comfortable looking room more brightly lit then the adjacent corridor and had two couched and a carpet in the middle of the room.

The only person inside besides Takahiro was a man with very tanned skin and stumble. His short black hair was rather messy and his clothes made him look like he was in poverty. Seeing Takahiro, the man gasped. "T-Takahiro, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Just thought I'd stop by for a visit, Nori." Takahiro replied, although his voice had a menacing tone to it. "And as I thought, Orochimaru never saw fit to send word to someone like you that I had betrayed him."

"What!" Nori yelled in surprise.

"Now then, I've got a question I want you to answer for me..." Takahiro told Nori and walked toward him slowly.


	12. The Second Meeting

_Chapter 11: The Second Meeting_

Takahiro walked along a road though the Hidden Sand Village, he had just finished his business with Nori, one of Orochimaru's lackey's. Now He was looking around for Ryuunosuke.

"If I've learned anything about him it's that he'll be where the carnage is." He said, and almost as if to answer him, a Sand ninja was knocked down from around the corner, and when he took a look, sure enough there was Ryuunosuke. "Found him," he said and walked up to him.

"Oh, there you are Takahiro." Ryuunosuke said upon seeing him. "Did you finish what you needed to check on?"

"Yeah," Takahiro answered disdainfully. "There was someone I was looking for but looks like he's not around."

"Who was it?"

"No one, just someone I met while on that mission, it's not important."

"Alright, if you're sure." Ryuunosuke said, and the two of them walked off.

"So, found anyone particularly interesting yet?" Takahiro asked.

"Not really, I fought a couple strong guys, but none of them put up much of a fight because of my little 'advantage'." Ryuunosuke said and pointed to his eyes.

"Right, well you should try again. Who knows you may find yourself another real challenge."

"Maybe, First Release: Kashi-ka." Ryuunosuke stated and closed his right eye.

Ryuunosuke examined the chakras around him for anyone of particular interest, but so far was coming up short. But then a certain chakra caught his attention so abruptly that he turned toward the source while ending Kashi-ka. What he saw in the direction of the chakra was the Kazekage office building. _The Kazekage building? Who... _He thought to himself, and then reactivated Kashi-ka to reexamine the chakra.

It was now, looking directly at the source of the chakra he realized was not a single chakra, but two. Both the chakras were stronger than the average ninja, one more so than the other, but both had a menacing feel to them. The two chakras were so powerful that the only word Ryuunosuke could think of to describe them was... demonic.

Ryuunosuke found himself petrified from the feeling these two chakras were giving off, and he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of them. That's when one of the chakras, the weaker one in comparison, ran off, and Ryuunosuke found himself following that one with his Kekkai Genkai. He waited and waited as the chakra drew nearer to the door, and once the door was swung open, Ryuunosuke ended the jutsu to look at the person's face.

The girl he saw was in a blue-purple dress and white scarf, and had long blonde hair. As she ran off out of view Ryuunosuke found himself frozen in place, in fear for a reason he could not explain. He was only brought out of this trance once Takahiro shook him.

"Ryuunosuke, hey Ryuunosuke!" He said.

"W-what?" Ryuunosuke spurted.

"Is something wrong, you were eyeing that girl weirdly. Was it something about her chakra?" Takahiro asked.

Ryuunosuke wasn't even sure if he should answer that with a 'yes' or a 'no'. So instead he walked over to the direction she had run. When he came around the corner, he could clearly see the girl running past the people. But actually everyone on the street seemed to have parted for the girl to past, and looked just a scared of her as Ryuunosuke now was.

Out of instinct, he asked one of the people, "Who is that girl?"

The man he asked seemed to look at him with disbelief until he realized he was not from this village, but still seemed afraid to answer the question. He just seemed to back away in fear.

Ryuunosuke and Takahiro looked back at the running girl who had now vanished in the distance, but it was still a moment after until the people around started walking around again. They seemed to just be that afraid of her. "Takahiro..." Ryuunosuke said, sounding like he'd also overcome his fear. "We're going after her."

"I got ya'." Takahiro replied, understanding that if this girl's chakra was really all that Ryuunosuke made it seem, she must really be something.

Ryuunosuke and Takahiro jumped up onto the rooftops so they could chase after the girl more quickly. Ryuunosuke used his First Release in order to pin-point her location and follow her until she was outside of the village. Ryuunosuke and Takahiro jumped down from the last house of the sand village and looked on after her for a moment.

"You sure you're okay Ryuunosuke?" Takahiro couldn't help asking. Ryuunosuke had been shaking the whole time they had been chasing this girl. "Maybe it's not such a good idea going after her."

"No, I just have this feeling it's what I need to do." Ryuunosuke said and ran after the girl again with Takahiro following half reluctantly behind him.

"That Kazekage Gaara…" Kimiko muttered to herself as she ran away from the Hidden Sand village, where as she would be called a rouge ninja. She ran for only a few more minutes when she noticed someone was following her. She saw two men, and it was obvious they were coming for her. "Didn't waste any time sending more assassins." She assumed that was the purpose of the two men now tailing her.

Kimiko turned around and waited for them to get closer. She would kill them both without hesitation.

Ryuunosuke and Takahiro saw the girl turn around and notice them. What she planned to do they didn't know, but it didn't change what they planned to do.

When they got close enough so that she would hear them without shouting, Ryuunosuke was about to say something when all of a sudden, "Get behind me!" He told Takahiro and jumped in front of him. "Third Release: Kyanseru!" Ryuunosuke called and held his hand out.

Nothing appeared to happen, and Ryuunosuke looked to be the only one of the three that was unconfused on what happened. Takahiro of course was confused on what had prompted him to use Kyanseru at all, as he saw absolutely nothing occur when he did. And as he looked at the girl she looked plain shocked, probably wondering why whatever she had done didn't work.

The girl seemed to realize something after coming out of her shock. "Wait, you two aren't Sand Ninja…" She said, and Takahiro looked at Ryuunosuke who appeared to still be concentrating on the girl. "What are you following me for?"

"I just wanted to talk to you," Ryuunosuke told the girl, slowly lowering his guard, hoping she would lower hers as well.

However, his answer seemed to make Ryuunosuke angry, as he put his hand back up to block the invisible force Takahiro couldn't see. "You want to talk to me? Who do you think you're fooling?" The girl asked in a mocking manner. "No one wants to talk to me…" She said, drooping her head slightly.

"I think I have some sort of understanding of why all those people in the village were afraid of you." Ryuunosuke tried explaining his position. "And to be honest I'm already afraid of you, but I want to learn why before I judge." He said, and the girl raised her head.

Ryuunosuke put his hand up again, anticipating another attack, but she hadn't done anything but seen he wasn't lying about being afraid. And if that was true then he must be telling the truth about wanting to understand why, or he would not be making the effort to talk with her. "W-who are you?" She asked.

"My name is Ryuunosuke, he's Takahiro. We just came to the village this morning and then saw you rush out of the Kazekage's office." Ryuunosuke explained.

"Why did you follow me then?"

Ryuunosuke lowered his guard, seeing that the girl was beginning to come around and see them as safe. "Call it curiosity." He answered. "I'm a sensory type ninja, only my ability is a bit more powerful. I could sense how special your Genjutsu was before you even launched it at us."

"So that's why you jumped in front of me," Takahiro realized. "To block the Genjutsu."

"Right Takahiro, only with my ability, I could tell more than average damage would come from being hit by it. So I used one of my other abilities which ended the jutsu before it could actually active." Ryuunosuke told the girl.

"You knew all this and chased after me?" The girl asked, seeming to be dumbfounded by the idea.

"We're both looking for special ninja, you see." Takahiro said. "Our goals may differ, but to those extents our methods are the same. We need to find strong ninja like you and train ourselves to become stronger. When we do that, we can achieve our goals."

"And what about you," Ryuunosuke asked. "Do you have a goal you have to get stronger to achieve? If so, maybe we can all help each other out…"

The girl seemed to think on Ryuunosuke question for a bit. Takahiro looked from her to Ryuunosuke in front of him, who looked to still be weary of the girl. She must still have her jutsu at ready. Ryuunosuke eyed the girl as he waited for an answer.

The tension from all three could be felt by the others, and it was possible lives were at stake from the answer the girl would give. If she decided to join them, of course it meant they had nothing to worry about. But if she said no to their offer, she could deem the two dangerous and try to kill them with her special Genjutsu.

What felt like hours passed before the girl raised her head. Takahiro looked at her and saw her eyes change from a misty white to a deep blue. He could guess what it meant but looked to Ryuunosuke for conformation. And sure enough, he gave a sigh of relief and noticeably ended his Kekkai Genkai, she was safe to approach. "Alright, I'll go with you." The girl said. "Although, what I want to do is/"

"Don't sweat it." Takahiro said, stepping up in front of Ryuunosuke and walking closer to her. "Ryuunosuke and I barely know the gist of what the other is trying to accomplish. I want revenge and he's on a journey of self discovery or something like that. You don't have to give us any details if you don't want to."

"Self-discovery and revenge? Well, I wouldn't call it revenge but…" The girl began.

"Didn't you hear me? You don't have to tell us if you don't want to." Takahiro repeated.

"Well I want to tell you." The girl replied.

"Oh, well then by all means." Takahiro said with a laugh at himself.

"Like I said, I wouldn't call it revenge but… remember how everyone was looking at me in the village? I don't want them to fear me anymore. I just want some respect." She said.

"I get it," Takahiro said with a tone of complete understanding.

"So, I'd wager it's not the best idea to head back to the village the way you stormed out." Ryuunosuke noted.

"Yeah, I'm probably considered a major threat by now. Guess I already was, they sent Anbu to attack me. It's why I left."

"Well then, let's go shall we?" Ryuunosuke stated, and the three of them turned to leave the Land of Wind.

After only a moment of walking, Ryuunosuke and Takahiro's new companion spoke up again. "Oh right, by the way, my name's Kimiko." She told them, and they walked on.

In front of Ryuunosuke and Takahiro, Kimiko spurred a gracious smile where they couldn't see. For as long as she could remember, she had put on an act in the village to try and not look terrifying, and when at home she immersed herself in the sadness she had bottled up while putting on the act. Kimiko thought back but was unable to recall the last time she had truly been able to act like herself, her real self, especially in front of others.


	13. Unknown Power

_Chapter 12: Unknown Power  
_

It had been a week since Ryuunosuke, Takahiro, and their new companion: Kimiko had left the Hidden Sand Village. As a temporary estate, the three of them traveled back to the Tani village in the River County which Ryuunosuke and Takahiro had already been before travelling the rest of the way to the Hidden Sand. Today, they had made plans to leave and begin traveling north toward the Hidden Rock Village in the Land of Earth.

For the time they spent here, they had decided to take it easy, none of them worried about fighting or anything like that. The time down was nice, especially for Kimiko, who had been unable to live a normal life in her own village because of her powers. But outside the Land of Wind, no one knew what she was capable of, so no one was afraid of her. For once in her life she could walk freely in a town, for once she could speak with someone and they would answer her. This feeling of happiness for her was something incomparable.

Right now even, she was speaking with a friend she had made since they had come here. Her name was Akemi, she had long black hair and wore a black dress and fish nets on her legs and arms. Akemi had learned how to use jutsu from her father, but was not an official ninja for the village; she wanted to avoid the fighting and wars that came with the title. "So you're really leaving today? Can't you stay any longer Kimiko?" Akemi asked.

"Sorry, I wish I could Akemi, but I've really got to get going soon." Kimiko said with a genuine smile. She had never made such a happy and friendly smile in her whole life, it had overwhelmed her doing so the first couple days. "Well, I'd better be going, I don't want to keep my friends waiting too/" Kimiko was saying, but then cut herself off as she saw Ryuunosuke approaching with a stern look on his face that made her worry.

"Kimiko, what's wrong?" Akemi asked.

"Kimiko, we need to leave, now!" Ryuunosuke said as he came up to her, grabbing her arm and pulling her away from Akemi.

"Wait, what's going on?" Kimiko whispered to Ryuunosuke as she began to walk away with him.

"I was using my Kekkai Genkai a couple hours ago and found something bad. I followed the chakra back to its source and it was a Sand Village Anbu." Ryuunosuke whispered back, and Kimiko's eyes went wide.

"Anbu, they found me?"

"I'm not sure, they might have still been looking, but chances are they were here for you. I didn't approach the Anbu so he isn't aware I've caught onto him, but in case he's already taken notice of you we need to get out of here now."

"Alright," Kimiko replied and the two of them picked up the pace.

When they reached the village boarders, Takahiro was waiting for them with some supplies and food to sustain them during their trip to the Hidden Rock Village. "Alright, time to leave." Takahiro said when the two of them arrived.

"Right, let's go." Ryuunosuke agreed and the three of them began to leave the village.

"Wait!" Someone suddenly shouted before the three could depart. When they turned to see who it was, they saw Akemi running up to them.

"Akemi, what are you doing here?" Kimiko asked her.

"Well you just left so suddenly, I didn't get a chance to say goodbye." Akemi answered. "Why was that anyway?"

"Something urgent just came up; you don't need to worry about it." Kimiko told her.

"Oh, well alright then, and hey if you're ever back in the village, make sure to drop by and visit."

"I will; bye." Kimiko said.

Akemi was about to speak but then a shadow was cast over her. She saw Kimiko's shocked expression and looked back to see an Anbu Black Op.

"I apologize in advance." The female Anbu said to Akemi and made a single hand-sign, putting her under a Genjutsu and rendering her unconscious, so she fell to the ground. "Now to take care of you," She said and pulled out her sword, pointing it at Kimiko and the others.

"Damn, they found us." Takahiro cursed.

"Make this easy on yourself and just let me kill you. It will be much easier that/" The Anbu was saying but then Ryuunosuke charged forward with his chakra blades and she reacted to block with her sword.

"Kimiko, Takahiro, get her out of here, I'll take care of the Anbu." Ryuunosuke told them, but in reality he had never taken an Anbu head on before.

There was the one time he and Takahiro had sneak attacked a pair, but that was a lucky shot. There was no way to be sure if he would be able to handle an Anbu Black Op all on his own.

The Anbu pushed Ryuunosuke away and slashed down on his shoulder before he even had a chance to activate his Kekkai Genkai and dodge. He jumped back after receiving the wound and activated Kashi-ka to even things up. "You'd willingly defend a traitor?" The Anbu questioned Ryuunosuke.

"It doesn't matter to me." Ryuunosuke answered.

Takahiro and Kimiko took Akemi and rested her against the side of a house. Takahiro put a finger on her forehead and made a hand sign with the other. "Release," He said, and Akemi woke up with a start.

"Kimiko, what's going on?" She asked, wondering why an Anbu would be after her.

"I can't explain, just stay here." Kimiko replied.

"I'll go help Ryuunosuke; you stay here and protect your friend." Takahiro told Kimiko and ran back to help fight the Anbu.

The Anbu swung her sword at Ryuunosuke from the side, but with the help of Kashi-ka he managed to pull off a dodge. _Good, she's not too fast I can't keep up, now I just have to look for a chance to strike._ Ryuunosuke thought and dodged the Anbu's next attack as well.

Suddenly though Ryuunosuke jumped to the side before the Anbu's next attack came. She turned to attack him again then noticed Takahiro throwing a punch at her from the corner of her eye. She jumped just barely out of the way and swung her sword down at his shoulder, but it skidded off his Rock Skin Jutsu.

"Earth Style huh," The Anbu noted to herself,

"Yeah, none of your weapons are going to hurt me." Takahiro told her, but the Anbu didn't seem worried.

"We'll see about that." The Anbu muttered and ran for Takahiro.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Ryuunosuke called from the Anbu's left, and fired a large ball of flames at the Anbu.

The Fire Style seemed to have hit at first but when it past the Anbu was gone completely, so she must have had dodge. Hastily, Ryuunosuke activated Kashi-ka again and immediately found where she went. "Takahiro, behind you!" He shouted.

Takahiro looked behind him and found the Anbu crouched there, and her sword was now coated in lightning. _No, she has lightning style. _And with her already stabbing her lightning covered sword at his back, he didn't have enough time to weave hand signs for a wind style jutsu in order to protect himself and he didn't have any time to dodge it either. Ryuunosuke charged at the Anbu. If he could just reach out and touch her blade with Kyanseru, the jutsu would end and she wouldn't be able to harm Takahiro, but the distance was just too great, he'd never make it in time.

Kimiko watched and saw all of this, knowing neither of them would be able to do anything before the Anbu plunged her sword into Takahiro's back, she acted. Kimiko's blue eyes turned to a misty white and she used her Genjutsu's power.

Immediately, the Anbu's hand clutching the sword was cut off at the wrist and fell to the ground, the lightning style wearing off. Immediately at that time, everyone at the scene except Kimiko ceased movement. Ryuunosuke and Takahiro knew her jutsu was supposed to be a very dangerous thing, but they had no idea exactly what it did. The Anbu was just as shocked, she hadn't even felt her hand be cut off and even now she felt no pain from her blood oozing arm.

"I won't let you hurt my friends!" Kimiko said and took a step toward the Anbu who now looked at her. Although Kimiko couldn't see the Anbu's expression under her mask, she was sure it was one of complete and utter terror like she had seen on everyone's face back at the village. "Die," Kimiko yelled and only Ryuunosuke saw exactly what happened, as he never made the switch out of Kashi-ka, he saw Kimiko's chakra be sent out like a flare at the Anbu. And when that flare made contact with the Anbu, it more or less exploded from inside the Anbu's own Chakra system, ripping apart the Anbu's chest and even cutting up some of her internal organs. Blood splattered out from the Anbu's body and she fell backward, lifeless.

Ryuunosuke processed the effect like white blood cells attacking a virus carrying bacteria as a foreign material. The Anbu's own chakra system wanted to be rid of Kimiko's chakra that was blending with it. But Kimiko's chakra could not exit in the same way it had entered, in order to come out of the Anbu's body, it had to be done by forcing it outside in a more physical way, causing the Anbu's body to practically explode from the inside out like a balloon filled with too much air.

Even Ryuunosuke wasn't able to completely figure the workings of that kind of Jutsu from seeing it only once at such a fast pace, but that was what he got. Becoming terrified by the chakra Kimiko's body held, Ryuunosuke ended the use of his Kekkai Genkai and just stared at the dead Anbu.

The look on Ryuunosuke's face wasn't his alone. Even without seeing its cause, the event had still even frightened Takahiro and Akemi who was still sitting behind Kimiko. "That… What was that!" Akemi let out that shriek of terror. Hearing it, Kimiko's eyes turned from the misty white back to their natural blue and she turned to Akemi. "You… You told me you used Genjutsu! That was no Genjutsu!" Akemi screamed at Kimiko and she shook in fear. "I saw it with my own eyes, there's no way that was Genjutsu! You- You're a…" Hearing Akemi start this phrase, she closed her eyes not wanting to hear or believe what one of the first people she ever thought of as a friend was about to say. "… You're a monster!" Akemi screamed out at the top of her lungs and got quickly and shakily to her feet and ran away as fast as she could.

Kimiko had been hit too hard to even shout out and try to stop her. All she could do was cry because of what she had said and shake at the pain of losing her friend. She looked to Takahiro and Ryuunosuke, who she saw shaking in fear of her. For a moment she thought they were about to run out on her too, having actually seen what she was capable of.

But contrary to this thought, Ryuunosuke spoke, although shakily: "W-we should leave now, you two." Although it wasn't much, it was enough to tell Kimiko they hadn't lose trust in her. At least they were going to stay beside her.


	14. An Impossible Improvement

_Chapter 13: An Impossible Improvement_

Ryuunosuke, Takahiro, and Kimiko had gotten as far away from the Tani village as possible after Kimiko had killed off an Anbu Black Op. The sun was setting now, but before lying down to get some rest, Ryuunosuke asked Kimiko to try something.

"Are you sure about this?" She asked, unsure about Ryuunosuke's request.

"Just try it, if I'm right, nothing will even happen." Ryuunosuke replied as he activated Kashi-ka.

"Go ahead," Takahiro told her with his arm extended to the side. "Even if he's wrong, I could live without a finger."

Kimiko took a breath. "Alright, I'll try it." She said and faced Takahiro.

What Ryuunosuke had asked Kimiko to do was quite simple in nature, but quite lethal in actuality. He wanted to test something about her Genjutsu out, and to do that she wanted her to try using it to cut off one of Takahiro's fingers. His hypothesis was that because Takahiro was covered in his chakra infused Rock Skin Jutsu, her Jutsu would end up being ineffective. If he was wrong, then her Genjutsu would just end up cutting Takahiro's finger off; but as he said himself, he could live.

Kimiko activated her Genjutsu, making her eyes change to a misty white. Once she did this Ryuunosuke took in a deep breath, getting through the terrorizing feeling her chakra gave him while active. Kimiko focused on Takahiro's finger and stared. Takahiro, being the only one unable to see Kimiko's attack, just had to stay still until told otherwise. After a second, Kimiko looked to Ryuunosuke and deactivated her Genjutsu. "You were right, it didn't work." She said, and Takahiro put his arm down. "But why exactly is that?"

"When I watched your Genjutsu attack the Anbu, what I saw actually happen was a bit strange." Ryuunosuke began. "Rather than physically assaulting your target, it causes the injury to be sustained in a more roundabout way. First a shot of your chakra is fired at your opponent; when it hits them, it starts to blend with and disrupt their own flow of chakra much like all Genjutsu. Here's where it becomes different, instead of controlling the other person's chakra flow to cause illusions, it fights the other chakra flow, forcing the opponent's chakra to expel your own by forcing an opening in their body: Thus resulting in the effect we see as an instantaneous severing of their body. Your Genjutsu is in conjugate to regular Genjutsu, where instead of creating illusions, it manipulates reality."

"So why doesn't it affect me while I have my Rock Skin Jutsu?" Takahiro asked.

"It doesn't work because it has to come in contact with a person's chakra network in order to work. When her chakra comes in contact with a jutsu, even though it is made out of chakra, the chakra is more free-willed and there is no need to expel her chakra from the Jutsu." Ryuunosuke explained. "But the most important thing I've noticed about your Genjutsu is that there's room for improvement."

Kimiko was surprised by this. "Room for improvement, how is that?" She asked, as she saw no possible way to improve something that could instantly kill anyone just by looking at them.

"Remember how I said your Genjutsu has the ability to manipulate reality? Well that means it has a greater power than simple killing. The tricky part is that it involves the use natural energy." Ryuunosuke told them.

"Did you say natural energy? That is tricky." Takahiro noted. "Learning how to control natural energy is no simple feat though, it could take years before Kimiko even figures out how to sense it, much less utilize it."

"I know," Ryuunosuke said. "Also what I'm thinking of means she'll have to find a way to make her chakra blend with instead of fight against the natural energy."

"What," Kimiko asked. "I'm not even sure if that's possible. All I've ever known about my Genjutsu was how to activate it, learning to manipulate it into a different effect _and_ use natural energy. I feel like you're asking me to accomplish the impossible!"

"Right," was Ryuunosuke's unexpected reply. "Under normal circumstances this kind of training would take probably 20-30 years at least. But we have circumstances better than normal because of my Kekkai Genkai. I may not know anything about natural energy, but I can definitely help with teaching you how to make your chakra blend instead of fight. That will cut the first part of learning it by a good amount of time."

"Like when you taught me how to utilize my fire nature chakra." Takahiro said.

"Exactly like then," Ryuunosuke replied. "As I watched you use your Genjutsu, I saw how you released it, which is what made it fight against the opponents' chakra. Given enough outside direction by me, I should be able to help you get the idea of what to do before noon tomorrow; and help you get the hang of it before the week is up."

"Man, you really are something else Ryuunosuke." Takahiro remarked.

"It's really just my Kekkai Genkai; my own power is nothing to be amazed at." Ryuunosuke said.

"Hey, just because it was a lucky break that you got the Kekkai Genkai, doesn't mean it isn't still your power." Takahiro explained.

Ryuunosuke gave a soft smile at being acknowledged. "Well how about we get some rest?" Ryuunosuke said.

"Sounds good," Takahiro responded.

"Alright," Kimiko said, but sounded depressed.

Obviously she was still upset over what happened with Akemi. Ryuunosuke and Takahiro couldn't blame her, after everything she had been through in her life that was just another huge blow to the face.

**5 weeks later**

"Remember, you've got to focus and think about what you want your chakra to do once it enters my chakra system." Ryuunosuke told Kimiko as he began another training session to teach her how to fully utilize the power of her Genjutsu.

Ryuunosuke held out his hand and activated Kashi-ka while Kimiko activated her Genjutsu. After two weeks of training her, Ryuunosuke had finally grown accustom to the feeling of Kimiko's chakra while it was active, so he didn't breathe heavily from fear of it anymore.

At first he had her just practice shooting her chakra out while focusing on making it perform the opposite output it normally had without a target. Once she had figured out how to accomplish this to a certain extent, he had her use the Genjutsu on him directly.

Kimiko wasn't sure about that at first, but Ryuunosuke assured her that he would be able to avoid the damage if she messed up. From there Kimiko had begun using her Genjutsu on Ryuunosuke with the goal of getting her chakra to blend in with his own. But in the case Kimiko messed up, Ryuunosuke would use Kyanseru to negate the Jutsu before it could take effect.

Kimiko exhaled deeply to calm herself. According to Ryuunosuke's analysis, her Genjutsu had acted the way it had up till now in response to fear or anger. But if she calmed herself and focused on helping others, it would blend with and add to her ally's chakra.

When she was ready she looked at Ryuunosuke's hand and focused on her Genjutsu. Once again Takahiro was watching their training, but just as always he was unable to see what was actually happening.

A moment past and Takahiro had to guess that it was working, or Ryuunosuke would have switched to Kyanseru by now. They also must have been testing it multiple times, because it was almost 2 minutes before Ryuunosuke pulled his hand from its outstretched position and brought it close to his face, examining it closely with his left eye.

"Did I do it right?" Kimiko felt the need to ask even if she saw herself that her Genjutsu had not harmed Ryuunosuke.

"It's… stiff." Ryuunosuke explained, attempting to find the right word to describe the sensation in his hand. "It's not complete yet; the Genjutsu isn't harmful, but it hasn't quite reached blending." He told Kimiko. "Your chakra that has entered my chakra system has become like a clot; still considered foreign but non-harmful, so there's no need to expunge it from my system. Given time, it will probably be integrated into my chakra or fade away like a regular Genjutsu when its effects end. But you're improving."

"Albeit slower than you had originally anticipated." Takahiro pointed out, recalling Ryuunosuke stating he should have gotten Kimiko to the point of blending within one week, and now it had been over a month.

"I guess that did turn out to be a bad estimation…" Ryuunosuke admitted.

"It's fine." Kimiko said. "Without you, I probably would have never known this was possible. I'm happy just knowing my Genjutsu can be used in a way that doesn't hurt others." She told them, a soft smile on her face.

Seeing Kimiko that way, Ryuunosuke and Takahiro grinned as well. "I'm glad." Ryuunosuke told Kimiko. The two of them were happy to see Kimiko smile; because it meant that she was beginning to get over her awful past of being feared. "Well, it's getting late. We'll be leaving for the Hidden Stone Village tomorrow, so we'd best turn in for the night."

"Sure, I'm getting pretty tired anyways." Kimiko agreed.

"Well, let's go then." Takahiro said, and the three of them walked back to the Village of Taki, where they had been staying for the past week.

For the last month the three of them had been travelling slowly north in the direction of the Hidden Village of Stone. They didn't have any money left from what little they did have, so they performed a few odd jobs in order to earn their stay at an Inn.

And tomorrow they would be leaving for the Land of Earth. Once they arrive in the Hidden Village of Stone, they would be staying there for a while. The reason being that since Takahiro could not be found by the Hidden Cloud and Kimiko could not be found by the Hidden Sand, staying in one of the other five major country's was their best option.

Ninja from the other villages would be a rarer occurrence, making them safer there than other places. And even if Ninja from other villages did appear from being on missions, it was mostly Anbu that had a working knowledge of every person who had betrayed the villages.

And the Hidden Stone was surrounded by mountains, making travel there even less likely from other villages than normal. And for the sake of discrepancy, Kimiko had decided to disregard her Sand Ninja headband; although Ryuunosuke and Takahiro suspected it might have been more a personal desire to remove herself from the village as much as she could. However, neither planned to bring this thought up to her, and left her to herself.

And so the three of them got a good night's sleep and then in the morning left for the Hidden Stone Village.


End file.
